For nature’s sake, get hawkish about culling birds of prey

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The tattered notebook in our kitchen drawer carries dates going back to the 1950s, marking the arrival and departure of every migrating bird in our part of Perthshire. They signal the coming of spring, and the end of autumn. The list has grown sadly shorter over the years. Gone are the lapwing — or peewits as we call them — whose sharp calls and tumbling flights we awaited so eagerly. Gone too are the golden plover. The big question this year is: have we seen the last of the curlew?